Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 17.06.2004

Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of June 17, 2004 on the Case of Constitutionality of Item 2 of Article 155, Items 2 and 3 of Article 156 and Paragraph 28 of Article 283 of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation Pursuant to the Requests of the Administration of St.Petersburg, Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Krasnoyarsk Territorial Court and the Arbitration Court of the Republic or Khakassiya

The applicants challenged the provisions of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation stating that the Bank of Russia serves budget accounts and the credit organisations fulfill the mentioned functions of the Bank of Russia in cases of absence of institutions of the Bank of Russia on the appropriate territory or impossibility of fulfilling of these functions by them. According to the applicants, the mentioned provisions restrict the right of municipal formations to choose independently the credit institution for cash services for the budget functions, institute the priority right of the Bank of Russia as compared to the credit organisations (municipal or private), thus contradicting the constitutional principles of equal protection of all forms of property and financial independence of local government.

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recognised that the challenged provisions do not contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation since they do not violate financial independence of the subjects of the Russian Federation and municipal formations, as well as do not exclude an opportunity for them to open budget accounts on the contest basis in credit organisations in cases and according to the procedure specified in the federal law.

Not complying with the Constitution of the Russian Federation is recognised to be the provision of Paragraph 22 of Article 283 of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation stating that the opening of the budget accounts in credit organisations in the presence of divisions of the Bank of Russia on the appropriate territory may serve as grounds to apply enforcement measures for the violation of the budget legislation. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation emphasised that the given provision does not meet the definiteness requirements of the normative content.

The Decision is entered into force immediately after annunciation.

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 726 of June 7, 2004 on the Endorsement of the Regulations on the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the Office of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, As Well As on the Amendments to and Invalidation of Individual Acts of the President of the Russian Federation

The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a constitutional body in charge of the preparation of the decisions of the President of the Russian Federation on the strategy of development of the Russian Federation, security of the vital interests of the person, society and the state against internal and external hazards, uniform state policy in the sphere of national security.

The office of the Security Council of the Russian Federation is an independent division of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation (enjoying the rights of a department of the President of the Russian Federation).

The Decree is entered into force from the day of its signing.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 278 of June 15, 2004 on the Endorsement of the Regulation on the Federal Service of Financial and Budget Enforcement

The Federal Service of Financial and Budget Enforcement is a federal body of executive power in charge of control and enforcement in the financial and budget sphere, as well as the currency control. The Federal Service is supervised by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.

The Federal Service enjoys broad authority, in particular, in control and enforcement of observation of the currency legislation of the Russian Federation by residents and non-residents (except for the credit organisations and currency exchanges), requirements of the acts of the bodies of currency regulation and currency control, as well as of compliance of the carried out currency operations with the terms of licenses and permissions. The Federal Service may arrange counterchecks in organisations of any forms of ownership, send to the checked organisations, their supervising bodies presentations obligatory for examination and orders obligatory for execution to eliminate revealed violations.

The Decision is entered into force from the day of its official publication.

Order of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation No. 590 of May 19, 2004 on the Endorsement of the Instruction on the Procedure of Filling of the Passenger Customs Declaration

Defines the rules of filling of the customs declaration by natural persons when declaring in written form commodities moved in accompanied luggage, unaccompanied luggage and hand luggage when crossing the state border of the Russian Federation. Provides the form of the passenger customs declaration. The declaration is used for the customs registration of commodities moved across the customs border by natural persons under the simplified procedure.

The Order is entered into force 90 days after the day of its official publication.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on June 11, 2004. Reg. No. 5838.